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If you started learning Vim with my last post, and you've been practicing the handful of commands we covered, then you're probably pretty tired of how you have to move around and edit things with only those rudimentary commands. It's time to expand our command set and crank up our efficiency in getting things done with Vim, but before we do that, let's take a look at how to make Vim a bit more comfortable to look at.

I use a lot of different text editors for the various programming languages I write in. When doing embedded C/C++ programming, the IDE is almost always Eclipse based. When doing Python scripting, Python(x,y) with Spyder is a solid choice. When doing C# Windows programming, Visual Studio is almost a must. But my default editor when I need to knock out a quick little program, bring up some code for a second to check something, or work in Ruby or Javascript for any amount of time is Vim.

Every editor has its strengths, its weaknesses, and its warts. Vim is no exception. Its spartan interface is nearly impenetrable to the beginner, and it has a killer learning curve. I remember the first time I encountered Vim while in college. I was an intern at a small integrated circuit design company, and I was looking over someone's shoulder as he quickly jumped in and out of files from a Linux shell, darting around the files and making crazy edits without ever lifting his hands from the keyboard to reach for the mouse.

"What the hell kind of editor is that?!" I asked in awe.
"Oh, that's vi," he responded. "You don't want to use it. It's archaic and has a killer learning curve. You'll be happier with a modern editor."